Who Made This Video?

Our class began at 8:00 am sharp, with the first half hour spent getting into our drivers suit and finding a full-faced helmet that fit snugly.  I met an interesting woman named Mary whose husband had given her this class as a gift, since he knew that she liked to go fast in her BMW.  Another of the three women in our class of sixteen was a tall, pretty blonde also named Mary whom I figured to be about thirty years old.  Mary was on her honeymoon with her husband, Dave, whom I figured to be about 65 and rich.

I had met Dave in the hallway before class, where he had introduced himself and asked if I drove a sports car.  The question caught me a little off guard, not because I drive a Ford Escort, but because it implied that you need to own a sports car to enjoy going fast.  Obviously, he's never driven an Escort.  Then a thought occurred to me, so I smiled and said, "No, I don't.  What kind of Porsche do you drive?"  "How'd you know I own a Porsche?" he asked in surprise.  "Just a lucky guess," I said.

Once we were settled in the classroom, instructor Ken Danzer outlined the day's schedule:   the first hour would be in the classroom, followed by a considerable period of practice time for heel-and-toe shifting in the racecars, followed by about ten laps of  lead-and-follow, with Ken showing us the proper racing lines through the turns as we follow his street car in close formation.  Then there would be a lapping session with the students running laps on their own, as many as time permitted.

The classroom content focused on how to shift the racecars we'd be driving.  The cars were modified Formula Fords, with no wings and Mitsubishi engines.  The web site refers to them as Formula Mitsubishi, and you'll find a small picture of one at the top of this page.  Like other  Formula Fords, the transmission does not have synchromesh, nor do the gears have rounded edges.  This makes for very difficult shifting.  The car simply will not shift unless the engine speed matches the drive train speed.  You cannot even practice shifting with the car sitting still.   Someone has to rock the car back and forth while you try out the 4-speed H-pattern, hence the need for considerable practice time.

We were shown a video in the classroom of the proper heel-and-toe technique.  They had taken the skin off the racecar to show us every possible angle and combination of instructor's feet, tachometer, shift lever and marker cones.  The video, which lasted about ten minutes, had only one flaw:  the instructor missed his mark every single time, shifting about ten feet in front of each cone.   Ken swears his boss made the video, not him.

The shifting practice would be out on the drag strip, configured as a long, narrow oval, with marker cones at both ends.  The first cone, labeled B, indicated the braking spot.  The next cone, labeled 3, indicated where we were to downshift into third gear using the heel-and-toe technique.  Two more cones marked the spots for second and first gears.  Once we were in first gear, we would do a slow U-turn, then accelerate up through the gears in the opposite direction.   The cars were equipped with dreaded, hated, evil rev limiters, set to 3200 rpm, so top speed was about 60-65 mph.

The shifting practice started out as lead-and-follow, with eight of us spaced out and following Ken's street car.  From the start/finish line of the racetrack, we drove along the drag strip, shifting up through the gears.  We followed the drag strip up the hill and under the bridge to the first cone marker, where we braked and then down-shifted through the gears.  Then we turned around and headed back down the hill to the start/finish line and another set of cones.  Each lap Ken drove a little bit faster until we were at top speed long before we reached the braking points. 

Ken pulled off the track after about ten laps, and several instructors at either end kept us evenly spaced so we could continue on our own for the next  half hour or so.  I had driven a Formula Ford at another racing school, so I felt comfortable right from the start, but I still enjoyed it.  After one particularly smooth set of braking and down-shifts, one of the instructors held up both hands in my direction and actually applauded.  He couldn't see me grinning behind my full-faced helmet, so I gave him a thumbs up.  Thank you, whoever you were, you made my day.

A Tour of the Track

After shifting practice, we hopped into several vans for a tour of the racetrack.   Ken took us slowly up the hill through turn one, showing us the proper line for the setup to the sharp right-hand turn 2 at the top of the hill.  He swung wide out of 2 all the way to the edge of the track and then pointed the van down the short slope into turn 3a, a big sweeping left-hander that climbed another steep hill.  At the crest of this hill is turn 3b, where the track makes a sharp turn to the right and drops out of sight.  Ken showed us the top of a tree in the distance to use as a marker for our exit point, because you simply cannot see the track beyond the crest of the hill.   You kind of have to trust that it's there, and hope that no one chops down that tree while you're turning laps.

Down the hill we went, onto the new NASCAR Chute, a newly paved gentle curve to the right that ends at turn 7, now a 90-degree right-hander.  Out of 7 we went through the esses, which were very, very narrow, then down a sharp hill into turn 9, a wide, sweeping left turn.  The school had created a chicane out of some traffic cones at turn 9, and we slowed to zig-zag though the chicane, then accelerated towards turn 10.   Turn 10 is a semi-sharp right-hander, and on exit Ken swung way out wide to the very edge of the pavement.  Then there's a short straight chute into turn 11, a flat, wide hairpin turn to the right.  Out of turn 11, there's one last turn, turn 12, a dog-leg to the left which exits onto the straight section where the start/finish line is located.

We did another lap in the van, with Ken describing again the braking points and the gears to use in each of the turns.  This second lap he went a bit faster, but nothing close to racing speeds.  When we returned to the start/finish line, we all climbed into our own cars for the lead-and-follow exercise.  Now we were getting down to business.

Lead and Follow

The lead-and-follow was fascinating.  Eight of us, as closely spaced as possible, followed Ken's street car through each turn.  Most of the students followed his line, but occasionally someone would miss a shift or swing too wide or enter a turn too early, causing a slow down and an accordion effect like you would not believe.  It took about three laps before we established any kind of rhythm.  Unfortunately, the dreaded, evil rev limiters (which they had raised to 3500 rpms, top speed about 70-75 mph) prevented me from really getting into a smooth pattern.  But by lap five, we were all doing well enough to stay in perfect line all the way around, and Ken gave us an encouraging thumbs up out the window.  (I believe it was his thumb.) 

After each lap, whoever was behind Ken would pull over to let the others go by and then fall into line at the rear, thus giving each student a chance to follow directly behind the instructor's car.  Since I was seventh in line at the beginning, it wasn't until lap seven that I got a chance to nip at his heels a bit.  It was fun trying to keep the nose of my car under his bumper.

Turn 11 eleven wasn't the most fun, but it was the most interesting, because every single student took a different line through it, no matter what Ken did.  Naturally, I  had the best line.  :-)   Several times I found myself exiting the turn on the inside of the student ahead of me, but we weren't allowed to pass, so all I could do was look over, signal "Gotcha" and slip back into line.

Free at Last

Finally, Ken pulled of the track as we came onto the staightaway at start/finish, and they formed us into two lines for the lapping session.  One at a time, at about 15 second intervals, they waved us on to do laps by ourselves.  This is what I had come here for.

Unfortunately, the dreaded, evil rev limiters kept our speeds way down, but the track has some pretty tight turns that require hard braking and downshifting, so even with the dreaded, evil rev limiters we still had a bit of a challenge.  Turns 3a and 3b were by far my favorite section, exactly like a roller coaster ride.  I loved them. You come flying out of turn 2 down a short slope towards 3a, braking, then downshift into 3rd (in these cars), turning wide towards a very late apex about two-thirds of the way up the steep hill.  Hard on the throttle, you shift up before you fly over the crest of 3b into space.  Every time I went over the crest, my eyes searched frantically for the top of that tree.  Fortunately, I found it in time and pointed the car right at it without lifting.  The car would settle in on the steep downslope, heading straight off the track, but a gentle turn to the right would aim it towards the NASCAR chute.

After about 5 or 6 laps, they moved another student in front of me who drove like the pace car at a funeral procession.  I later found out that it was Mary the honeymooner.  She drove like she was older than her husband.  They gave her a pretty big head start, but I would catch her at the entrance to turn 7 every time, so I had to poke around the rest of the track behind her.  She was not even close to any of the proper racing lines, but at her speed she didn't need racing lines.  I asked if I could pass her, but they said no.  There was a turn worker in the esses who would signal me to slow down and open the gap between us, but even when I slowed way down, I would catch her again in the chicane.  One lap, as I waited at the start/finish to go again, they waved her on, then waved me on about thirty seconds later.  I intentionally stalled the engine.  Twice.  I still caught her at the entrance to turn 7 (!!!).  This was the only bad part of the day.

They moved old pokey to another spot in the rotation, which allowed me to turn a few more laps under green, so I finished the morning on an up note.  I have to admit that the next day I had bruises all over my body from banging around inside the racecar, but I strongly recommend the experience, even with those dreaded, evil rev limiters.  I'm surprised none of the Winston Cup drivers have said that they enjoy this track, because driving it is an absolute blast.

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